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Dade Schools Get New Security Tech

Submitted by Roxanne Hudnall on October 17, 2018 - 3:25pm

TRENTON, Georgia (WDEF) – The Dade County school system is implementing new security changes. A Communications company is now working with safety Personnel to use technology to reduce response times in the event of a crisis. “The parents told us they wanted to have an SRO at every school, we’ve done that. And they wanted to have top level security in every school, and so we started investigating immediately on ways to enhance, you know, the safety at our schools.” Superintendent Jan Harris said in a morning news conference that technology will combine existing programs with something new. “We are excited to have it in place. And not only have it in place, but to have it paid for with a grant, written by Tommy Bradford.” Major Tommy Bradford, you’ll recall, is the Dade county sheriff’s officer who was critically hurt and lost part of his leg while stopping a speeding suspect last August. He’s still on leave and recovering. That grant was for $160,000 dollars. The district linked with South Western Communications to create a program that will insure faster response to danger. It’s an alert system that is seen by all important agencies. Dade Principal James Fahrney told us “Police are given a heat map, basically, so if there was an incident, the rooms turn red if they hear shots fired or something horrific like that. But then the areas of the building that are green, they know that there’s currently nothing going on right there so they can concentrate their focus. So it’s kind of like having an x-ray view of what’s going on inside the school.” The Sheriff says “It’s helped our SRO’s with a quicker response time and even our officers on the road, so it’s a great tool for law enforcement.” EMS Director Alex Case adds “…. it gives us a way to know where the issue is or where it can be, and try not to come in the wrong way to a school to help that situation.” That program is already in place.